Darkly Bright
by blumoone
Summary: AU - Pam finds a battered Tara on the doorstep of her secret vampire brothel and in an instant she knows there is something different about this human. Haunted by a dark, twisted past the last place Tara expects to end up is at the mercy of a harem of vampires but there is something in the blue eyes of the one that found her that makes her feel safer than ever before.


**A/N: Hello to all of my lovely readers, I pray you all have been well. Here is my third multi-chaptered fic surrounding our favorite couple. This, I will admit, is something different for me but I hope you all enjoy it just the same. The little plot bunny just hopped into my head at work and I just had to give it some room to frolic about. As always I ask that you drop a line or two letting me what you think as your feedback gives me the motivation to keep these little stories going. **

**Happy reading!**

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The rain pounded the windows aided by gale force winds that seemed to shake the comely manor home by its very foundation as rumbles of thunder rolled menacingly through the humid air and forks of lightning illuminated the night sky. Pamela Swynford de Beaufort was utterly unfazed by the ghastly weather however. She found there was something soothing in the sound of heavy raindrops pelting the glass panes, something oddly comforting in the sound of thunder. It brought on a wave of nostalgia from her childhood in England; a childhood that she could hardly remember due to the fact that there was about one hundred fifty years separating said time period from the present. Eric Northman, her Maker among other things, had given her the gift of immortality over a century ago and there were now only a few memories that remained of her human years, the comfort from a good rainstorm being one of them.

She sat before a roaring fire on the fainting couch in the parlor flipping idly through a leather bound book of Shakespearean sonnets. It had been her night off and was now nearing dawn. She could feel the sun approaching and the pull of the Sleep but knew she had nearly an hour left to herself. Besides, skimming through old poems was decidedly a better way to pass the time than scrubbing away the odors of human perspiration and other bodily fluids, liquor, and cheap cologne from her skin which was probably what her house mates were doing at the moment. The brothel accepted their last clients at 3 AM and it was now a quarter after 4 so that seemed the most likely case scenario.

The scent of salt and ice assaulted her senses in that moment and she closed her book with a snap before turning to face her Maker. Eric leaned casually against the frame of the door, his blonde hair long and brushing his shoulders. He donned a white collared shirt with the top three buttons undone and no cravat and trousers that were slightly rumpled giving the impression that he had hastily put them on. His boots were unlaced as well. She shook her head with a wry smile.

"You certainly look well fucked," she drawled with an arch of a perfectly manicured eyebrow, "Did the girls have to draw straws or were you simply giving out random favors?"

The Viking vampire snorted at his progeny's cheek, striding lazily in the room to place his strong hands on her shoulders and proceeded to knead the tense muscles beneath, eliciting a soft moan from the occupant on the couch.

"Something like that _älskling__," h_e murmured through a smile, "It was Jessica. Apparently one Monsieur Ferronaire has no head for whiskey and vomited all over the girl. I had to reward her somehow for not decapitating the poor man, no?"

Pam grimaced at the thought of the young redhead covered in the contents of the human's evidently weak stomach and shook her head, "You would think the appeal of fucking a vampire would be enough of a buzz without having to be drunk on top of it."

"Come now Pamela you know they don't really believe we are creatures of the night. We go through great lengths to keep that a secret and besides, what better way to explain our quicker than normal reflexes and astounding stamina than to blame it on being tipsy?"

"I suppose," Pam murmured with a halfhearted shrug. It was essential that their nature remained veiled in question especially giving the fact that their clients were their main food sources. The Vampire Authority had decreed that vampires remain separate from the human world at all costs and all it took was for one human to have sound proof of their existence for their way of life to be jeopardized.

Eric's hands fell from her shoulders and he dropped a kiss to her cheek. "Dawn is approaching _älskling_. You'll be retiring soon."

She nodded as her Maker went to check in on his other wards and to drop the shutters that kept the manor light tight. Pam settled back on the couch with the hopes of reading one last poem before the pull of the Sleep became too great. As her sapphire eyes skimmed over the eloquent words that composed sonnet 43, her mind drifted back down memory lane to another one of those few memories left of her human years - her adolescent years to be exact when most of her time had been spent breaking the hearts of potential suitors. She had known even then that she wasn't destined for the mundane lives the other girls her age seemed to crave – to be the mistress of some aristocrat's family home, to birth and raise a passel of his brats, and then to live out the remainder of her years devoid of excitement, devoid of adventure, devoid of true love. Granted, life experiences had managed to viciously trample down the dreams of that sixteen year old hopeless romantic and looking back she couldn't have imagined that the one to truly change her destiny would be a six foot four nearly thousand year old Viking vampire but changed it, Eric had. He had for all intents and purposes been her white knight in shining armor.

_'When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, for all the day they view things unrespected; but when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee, and darkly bright, are bright in dark directed…' _

A sudden series of loud banging on the manor's front door startled the blonde vampire out of her reverie. The book of sonnets dropped to the carpeted floor as all of her heightened senses went on alert. The banging was erratic, desperate sounding and relentless, and before Pam could utilize her better sense of judgment, she vamp sped to the door and threw it open. Sapphire eyes locked on wide, pain filled obsidian orbs and a gasp was torn from bee-stung lips as she caught the bloody and battered human woman who collapsed in her arms, utterly drenched from the pounding rain.

"Help me." The two words were uttered roughly and had Pam's heart still beat it would have wrenched in her chest. But she did not have time to linger on that fact because no sooner had the words escaped the hoarse throat did the woman's eyes flutter shut and her body went limp.


End file.
